How Did We Get Here?

This week was a bit rough. Where we are with our country's leadership right now is frankly pretty horrifying and not the best for my mental state.  

Monday was a day off from school and work, and I should have run but I really needed a day to do nothing but lounge on the couch, hide my head in the sand news-wise, make superhero muffins and read my book. It did snow overnight and into the early morning hours meaning it was also easy to procrastinate and then just not go out in the afternoon like I kept telling myself I would 😂🤷‍♀️

And then Tuesday morning was too darn cold, so it was a low energy afternoon run around the Highland Green block. Variable conditions despite the fact that most of the run was on pavement 😂😑(6.0 miles)

Sam had a chorus concert on Tuesday night, which was short and sweet, and the kids sounded great.

Wednesday turned into an afternoon walk around the school block type of day. Chilly. (2.6 miles walked)

Finally managed to get out early on Thursday morning for a run in the cold darkness. Ran mostly in the middle of the road through Highland Green to avoid the ice and snow on the sidewalks - no traffic at 5:30 am!! 😂(6.0 miles)

Friday I had to go into work in the middle of the day for an event, so it was a quick run around town in the morning followed up by a few errands before and after work. Still surprisingly messy, snowy and icy out there. Also still cold 🥶(7.2 miles)

Friday nights at this time of year means swim meet nights! Sam had all her fans on hand, and it was a great evening for her. She hit the state qualifying times for the 200 free and the 500 free 🎉🎉Woohoo, so proud of all her work to make it happen! It is such fun to see her meet her goals and be proud to have accomplished what she did.🤩She got the sweetest call-out from the head coach over the weekend too - we are so grateful for all that the coaches and her teammates have done to encourage her to push to reach her goals. It's a great team 💗

Another cold morning on Saturday. Was supposed to run with Emma but woke up feeling super tired as I went to bed late after Sam’s swim meet and the cats woke me up at 4:00 and my stomach felt not so great so Emma graciously agreed to a rain check. After a quiet morning, I felt a bit better and Ryan was planning to run so we did the big portion of one of my road loops together and I tacked on a bit extra at the end. Warmer than I had thought! (8.0 miles)

Sunday, I could not quite get myself out the door into yet another sub-zero degree dark morning before I headed to Bradbury to volunteer at the non-snowshoe race, so I ended up heading out in the afternoon. Ran a mix of roads, cart paths and some Cathance trails. Ok without spikes but a bit slippy and legs felt tight. Had a longer run planned but got a bit lazy and just kind of felt like this was enough. 🤷‍♀️(8.1 miles)

So not quite the best week for hitting the mileage, but trying to give myself a bit of grace. Hoping for a bit more pep and less existential dread next week. 

Treading Water

A bit of surviving, not necessarily thriving this week. Ryan was away starting last Sunday and didn't get home until after Sam and I had gone to bed on Saturday night. While I am a strong, capable woman, some weeks are harder than others in terms of juggling work, Sam's double swim practices and all the rest, and this was a busy week with a lot going on. I am extra grateful for Mom and Dad's help on Tuesday and Wednesday, as otherwise something would have had to give! 😜But overall, we got it done!

Monday was a day off from running and while I didn't get out for an early morning run in the darkness on Tuesday, I took the opportunity later in the afternoon while Dad was up at the Y with Sam for practice to cram in a few miles before getting back on the computer for a 5:30 meeting before heading over to Bowdoin for a make-up high school swim meet from earlier this season. Dad also very nicely picked up a pizza for dinner - thanks Dad! Overcast, mild and breezy at 3:00 pm on my run out and back on the Highland Green roads. (6.0 miles)

Sam had a solid night of swimming, and aren't these photos of her and her teammates just so cute?! 😍😎 It's fun to see her having fun in the pool with her friends!

Wednesday morning I headed out around 6:20 for a loop around Highland Green. Pretty moon above and one deer seen. Back dirt road was surprisingly nice running.  (6.0 miles)

I had a 4:00 meeting so Mom took Sam up to the Y for practice, and then I spent the time during high school practice in the stand getting some more work done. 

Thursday, I took the time during swim practice to get a walk around the Bath block. Nice to have it be calm out and not windy! (2.1 miles walked)

Friday, I dropped Sam off at school and then got a few errands done before heading out for a run on the cart paths and around the Heath. Crunchy underfoot with a lot of critter tracks. (7.1 miles)

Then I had a nice massage with Lauren before picking Sam up at school for a bit of driving practice and then dropping her off at for a high school team dinner. 

Sam had an away Y swim meet on Saturday, with drop off for the bus at 8:45. After dropping her off, I headed over to park at the field house and ran a loop out through the Commons and on the Landing trails. Nice and mild out, although the wind could go away! I really feel like it has been a little too much this winter so far!🤪 The Landing trails are fun, twisty and narrow so not fast, but nice for something different. Tired. (8.0 miles)

Spent the rest of the day getting a few things done around the house and keeping an eye on the texts from Sam during her meet. Another solid day of swimming. Picked up noodles for dinner for us and then vegged on the couch watching Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick 😆 Ryan got home sometime in the late evening hours after we had both gone to bed.

Rain had started by the time I picked dinner up on Saturday night, and while the skies were clear on Sunday morning, I waited a while in the hopes that things would warm up a bit and be less icy before going out for my run. Ran on the cart paths, out into the Cathance and then on the powerlines. An interesting, variable mix of glare ice on pavement, sketchy funky hoar frost in the Cathance, slick mud, soft sand, and semi frozen puddles. Pretty morning though. And longest run since the spring! Even wore my pack 😂 (13.1 miles)

Then later in the afternoon, Ryan and I got in a walk around the school block (2.6 miles walked) before I dropped Sam off at Kylee's for a sleepover and we had a quiet evening at home watching The Bear on the couch. 

Winter?

Winter seems to be back on the menu, with multiple days with temps in the teens early in the week with a cold, strong and rather unnecessary wind, followed up by snow on Saturday, with just enough to make things messy and have it look like winter again! 

Tuesday was too darn cold and windy for an early morning run in the darkness and by the afternoon, I was exhausted, so I just took a very brisk walk around the school block. (2.6 miles walked)

Wednesday, I was working from home and with no meetings on the docket (It's a miracle! 🎉🎉), I decided to run after I dropped Sam off at school and headed over to the Commons in an attempt to stay out of the wind, and since I haven't run over there since the spring. Downright cold out there with the wind, even in the woods! Should have worn double pants. Brr! (7.1 miles)

Thursday, I ended up with another daylight run in the late afternoon. Ran the cart paths and around the Heath. Blustery and cold. Wore all the layers. Moody sky and marsh. (6.0 miles)

Still windy on Friday morning 😂😜Ran the cart paths in the late morning after getting the errands done. Felt a bit sloggy. (7.1 miles)

Then there was enough time for lunch and a bit of work before taking Sam up to the Y for swim practice and then up to Wiscasset for her Mt. A. swim meet, which had an early 6:00 pm start. Thankfully Y practice was pretty chill, with Jay chatting to the kids for 30 minutes and then water polo. Sam said, well, now I'm warmed up! She swam well, despite not hitting some of the times she was hoping for. It's hard to be 15 and coming back from being sick - she wants to be right back where she was, but we know the pneumonia took a toll and it's going to take a bit of time. 

Look at that rise from the water! 

Saturday, I headed out at 9:00 am and looped on the roads around town. Overcast and cold but at least the winds had died down! (8.0 miles) 

Then it was home for a quick shower and lunch and up to the Y for the day's swim meet. Ryan and I headed out for a short walk around the Bath block before the swim meet started. Enough snow to make it fairly sketchy in road shoes - Ryan’s Hokas were not doing him any favors 🤪(2.0 miles walked)

This morning I continued the trend of the late start run, and headed out around 9:00 for my run. With between 1" and 2" inches of snow having fallen, it was very slushy, snowy and sloppy out there so not the best underfoot but on the plus side it wasn’t windy!!! Saw six bluebirds, and this adorable possum art out back 😍😍 (12.0 miles)

I’ve set some yearly goals but also breaking things up by week to stay focused. Hit my targets this week:

40 miles run✔️

2 walks✔️

1x arms ✔️ (I do regular pre-run core/glute/lower bodyweight stuff before every run but I’m trying to add back in some upper body stuff)

Still have yet to choose my 2025 ultra. It won’t be VT or Ghost Train, I know, but still pondering…

And just for fun, two of my cuties 😻

Happy New Year!

A Wednesday holiday is so weird! I had been off on Monday, then worked on Tuesday, then was off on Wednesday for New Year's Day, and back into work the next day. Definitely not my preferred holiday scheduling! 

It was a quiet New Year's Day. It rained all morning so I was in no rush to run, and instead I did some work, went to the grocery store and then took down the Christmas tree, which is always such a sad chore! The house looks empty with it gone, and I do so love the lights. Then finally, there were no more excuses and the rain had (mostly) stopped, so out I went at 2:15 for my run. Dreary, misty, overcast, damp afternoon. Felt pretty clunky, and I didn’t even stay up and do anything exciting on New Year's Eve - I was in bed by 9:00 😂😂🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Ran out into Highland Green. The back road was pretty mucky. (7.1 miles)

Thursday it was back to reality with work for me and Ryan and school and swim practice for Sam, and then on Friday it was more work, some errands, and then finally a late afternoon run for me on the cart paths and around the Heath. Crispy crunchy underfoot, and windy. Brrr. (6.0 miles)

Sam had a high school swim meet up in Waterville on Friday evening, and so all the swim fans were in the bleachers cheering the team on. Sam had some great swims, especially given that she is definitely still not 100% after the walking pneumonia, and finished off the meet with a final push in the last 25 to get her relay team into 2nd, which was fun!

Saturday, I spent a bit of time on the couch and hit the farmer's market before heading out for a run around 10:45. Bright but chilly with the wind, and feeling a bit creaky. (8.0 miles)

Sam spent the afternoon over at Anne's making sugar cookies while I got some cleaning done around the house and Ryan tackled replacement of our really old and finally dying food disposal (final results on the replacement still pending 😬).  I think Sam got the better deal 😂😍

Sunday, with my stomach feeling a bit off and no real drive to do a long run in feels like 10 degree temps with the wind, I headed out around 8:00 to get in some miles. Ran out on the powerlines. Bright and cold. Powerlines are a bit sketchy with ice and uneven frozen sand and hoar frost so a bit of cautious footwork involved. (7.1 miles)

Then Ryan and I headed up to Emily's for a walk out in Butler Head Preverse and to lunch at Mae's. Cold but pretty along the river, and so good to catch up with Emily and see her settled in at the new house! (2.0 miles walked)

And the finally tally for 2024:

December:
188.80 run miles
25.25 walk miles
0.0 XC miles (how did I not ski any miles this year?!)

YTD:
1,543.00 run miles
300.00 walk miles
0.0 XC miles

Out with 2024 and Onto 2025

Rain and cold temps on Monday morning meant that I was not enthused with my plan to head out for a run before we headed home from MA, so I didn't 😜 Instead I got in a walk around the indoor track up at the Y in the early afternoon while Sam was at high school swim practice. She was feeling much better, so we thought it would be worth it to get in the pool for one practice for the day, but didn't push it for both practices. (3.1 miles walked - so many laps!)

The rain stopped later in the evening, but temps dropped and things were looking quite slick out there on Tuesday morning when I woke up. I needed to head into the office to get some things completed by year-end, but I also wanted to get in a walk and a run  (silly goals!😄) so I decided I would walk in the morning as it would be easier to be cautious while walking versus running, and then run in the afternoon. Headed out at 6:30 am to wrap up my walk miles for the year. The pavement was definitely sketchy, so I did a lot of walking on the grass. (2.9 miles walked)

After some time in the office, I headed home to get ready for the final run of 2024. Sam had headed with Lauren and family down to Old Orchard Beach for the night, and Ryan had finished up work for the day, so he decided to join me for the run, which was nice! We headed out through the woods onto the cart paths and down to the river. Very soggy and squishy in the woods and on the cart paths, and the river was roaring with all the rain! (6.1 miles)

And with that, it's a wrap on 2024! 

Of course, as always, the year is not simply defined by the miles, and I always love to look back through my photos and think about all the adventures and fun we've had in the past year, and 2024 was no exception. While there were the inevitable lows, like Ryan and I having Covid at the start of the year, my torn hamstring, the election results, and Sam having walking pneumonia this month to name a few, there were a lot of highlights too. Sam turned 15, got her braces off and started driving (!), Ryan and I celebrated our 25th anniversary (!!), we celebrated my dad's 80th birthday, the three of took a great trip to Quebec in the late summer, Sam had another year with a fun two weeks at Y camp and being social with her friends (I do so love to see the girls together 😍), Ryan and I had a great weekend crewing for Emily at the VT100, we saw an eclipse and the aurora borealis (so cool!), and we had some great times spent both on the trails and off with family and friends throughout the year 💗

Looking back on my goals for the year, I give myself a solid C 😂😂

• Continue to stay healthy, happy and reasonably sane. I'd say I mostly achieved this, although the health component was shaky a few times with Covid and the torn hamstring, and of course the sanity is always in question. 😄😉
• Time with Ryan and Sam, including some outdoor adventures together. Sam had a busy year and she is a teenager after all, but we did manage to get in a few hikes and walks together, and we had a great time in Quebec as a family!
• Time together with my parents. It is amazing to have my parents just a few miles away. I am so grateful for the time we get to spend with them!
• Visits with Irene, Dana and the rest of the family throughout the year. Hopefully we will get to see Kristen and Morgan in 2024. We didn't manage to get down to Meg and Chris' new home in NJ but we did spend time together at Thanksgiving and after Christmas, we saw Irene and Dana several times outside of the holidays, and Kristen came to visit for a week in October, which was so fun!
• More time with friends, both on the run and elsewhere. Hoping to get together with Corie and Kris this year for a girls weekee running/hiking adventures. Get back to the Pemi and do more running up at Ragged and Camden. I did get in some nice time running, walking and hanging out with Emily, Emma, Val, Mindy and Anne this year, and we had a fun dinner with Keri and Tyler, which was great, along with our annual trip to Chalk Pond to see all our Bowdoin friends, and Ryan was able to ski with Michael and Kendra out in Colorado, but Corie, Kris and I weren't able to make a trip happen this year, nor did I do any mountain running, so I mixed bag on this one!
• 2,000+ miles run, with a goal of 2,200. I did not hit my running goal for the year of 2,000 miles run. The hamstring tear saw to that. Got in 1,543 miles instead. Disappointed because I like to reach my goals 🤪 and while I ultimately know that the miles don't really matter, I am a bit sad to have my streak of 2,000 mile years broken. However, that being said, I am grateful for what I was able to do, especially given the injury, and glad to be back running and over that hurdle, and am looking forward to next year’s hopes and dreams and silly running goals and miles ❤️
• 200 miles walking/hiking. Was more successful in my walking goal for 2024 with the goal (over)achieved. I had set a goal of 200 walking miles for the year but when I tore my hamstring, I was walking much more than running so nudged the goal to 300.
• Be able to race the final 20 miles of Twisted Branch 100k. Nope, didn't even make it to the start line
• Strength work 2x a week plus hill/speed work 1x a week during training. I let these things slack in 2023, and want to work this stuff back into the routine in 2024. I did so-so with the strength training, hitting 2x a week most weeks, but let things slack off at the end of the year, and there wasn't much training so there wasn't much hillwork either.
• 60 books read. Read 122 books! I wasn't training as much so I had more time to be spending on the couch - ha!

For 2025, the goals will be relatively similar:

• Continue to stay healthy, happy and reasonably sane. 
• Time with Ryan and Sam, including some outdoor adventures together. 
• Time together with my parents, Irene and Dana, and the rest of the family.
• Enjoy a special trip to Paris together! We are headed there in late July/August with my parents, and then Sam, Ryan and I are going on to Chamonix for a few extra days. So excited!😍😍
• More time with friends, both on the run and elsewhere.
• 2,000+ miles run. 
• 200 miles walking/hiking. 
• Get back to strength work, and hopefully hill work too once I choose a 2025 race.
• Run an ultra!
• Read 75 books. 

So with that, cheers to a 2025 filled with more highs than lows, and time with friends and family both on the trail and off 💗

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Running Log Files:
2024 - 1,543.00
2023 - 2,204.00
2022 - 2,157.00
2021 - 2,200.00
2020 - 2,200.00
2019 - 2,116.00
2018 - 2,112.00
2017 - 2,002.00
2016 - 1,900.00
2015 - 1,963.60
2014 - 1,702.00
2013 - 1,557.75
2012 - 1,400.00
2011 - 1,375.00
2010 - 1,100.00
2009 - 675.50 *pregnant/Sam born
2008 - 1,112.00

Walk/Hike Log Files:

2024 - 300.00
2023- 200.00
2022 - 270.00
2021 - 332.00
2020 - 362.00
*still need to search down the stats for these in-between years
2009 - 104.50